(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to teleconferencing systems. More specifically, the invention relates to an accessory to allow file sharing during a teleconference.
(2) Background Information
Teleconferencing is increasingly becoming a popular application in personal computer systems. Such applications typically allow the transfer of audio and video data between users so that they can speak and otherwise communicate with one another. Such applications sometimes also include data sharing wherein various types of data such as documents, spreadsheets, graphic data, or other types of data, can be shared and manipulated by all participants in the teleconference. Different teleconference applications perhaps residing on different hardware platforms have different capabilities. Moreover, a wide variety of features has been implemented in different teleconference applications, and the proliferation of different types of computer systems with different capacities, and different networking media has created challenges for teleconferencing.
For example, for most teleconferencing applications, it is assumed that the sender and the receiver have certain minimum capabilities. However, with the wide diversity of systems having different computation capacities, and in addition, the wide variety of networking media, that certain systems may not have certain capabilities. Prior art systems have typically required that the application provide support for all capabilities used within the teleconference. This fact has substantially complicated teleconferencing applications, and made expansion of capabilities difficult or impossible. It would be desirable to be able to relieve the application of the burden of supporting all capabilities by providing accessories which interface logically between the application and a base teleconference component to provide additional and expandable capabilities. It would also be desirable if an accessory supported file sharing during a teleconference without jeopardizing the integrity and security of any participating endpoint.